


Making the Rounds

by sherstrader



Series: Need a Light [2]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Zombie Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - No Zombies, College, Dating, Drinking Games, M/M, Never Have I Ever, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-11 11:24:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7889782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sherstrader/pseuds/sherstrader
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Daryl sighed, “we makin’ the rounds now, huh? Having dinner with all our friends?”<i></i></i>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>  <i></i><br/><b>Jesus and Daryl have been dating for a few months, how will it go when Jesus takes the man to Glenn and Maggie's for the evening?<b><br/></b><br/></b><br/><br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Carol

Paul stood outside Joe’s Auto Repair with a packet of cigarettes in his pocket and two coffees keeping his hands warm. He'd gotten off work early, normally meeting Daryl much later on Friday nights. He'd decided to surprise him, seeing as his boss Gregory had given him a rare afternoon off.

Tonight was an important night, they’d made plans with Jesus’ friends. It would be the first time Daryl would ever meet them and they were both nervous. He knew Daryl was nervous because all of Jesus’ friends were a lot younger than him. He was 23, and his friends were similar ages. Whereas Daryl was 41. Jesus was nervous because he desperately wanted his best friends to like Daryl, and because he didn’t want to make the other man uncomfortable. He sighed and tried to put the thoughts out of his head, looking down at his watch. The mechanic was normally off work by 5.30 but it was nearing 5.45 and Jesus was starting to get cold. 

He eyed the front door of the auto repair shop warily. He could just go inside to check that Daryl was actually there. It was January and the temperature was very low, not freezing like he was used to back home but still very cold for Atlanta.

He stepped into the building, immediately being hit with the smell of oil and metal he was only used to smelling on Daryl’s clothes and in his hair. They had been dating for a few months now and he’d grown to like the scent. Daryl always got embarrassed about it but Jesus reassured him that it made him smell ‘rugged and manly’. Paul smiled, thinking of Daryl’s blush whenever the other man called him that. Speaking of manly, Paul didn’t remember the last time he’d been in an environment this hyper-masculine. He studied Art at college and most of his friends were girls. The walls of the reception area were adorned with posters of cars and women; he could hear men shouting and laughing from around the corner.

Paul immediately felt out of place and considered exiting swiftly and making his way back to his original waiting spot. He was pulled out of his thoughts by a sweet voice calling to him.

“Hello! How can we help you today?” 

He turned to where the voice was coming from, a woman with short clipped hair was sat at a desk to his left, he immediately felt better. She had a very calming and kind demeanour. “Umm, Hi!” He laughed nervously, “is Daryl here? I was waiting outside but then he was late so I thought I’d check.” 

The woman seemed to light up even more at the mention of Daryl’s name. “Yes, he’s here. I think he should just be finishing up. I’ll tell him you’re here. What’s your name?” 

“It’s Paul.”

She stood up and was about to walk off to find Daryl but turned back to Jesus, “Hang on, you’re Paul? As in…Jesus?” She clarified, and continued after registering Paul’s slightly confused nod. “Pookie has told me so much about you, I’m Carol!” She beamed and stuck out her hand to shake his.

Suddenly it all clicked into place, “I’ve heard a lot about you too, it’s nice to finally meet you.” He shook her hand, happy to be meeting one of Daryl’s closest friends. 

“I’ll just go and let him know that you’re here.”

Jesus looked at the wall, pretending to admire the cars being displayed on the posters. In reality he knew nothing about cars, he could appreciate their aesthetics but whenever Daryl spoke about vehicles he ended up just staring at the other man and enjoying the expression he had on his face. Whenever he was explaining something he was passionate about he’d look excited before frowning a little bit, like he was worried someone was going to tell him off for speaking too much. Sometimes he’d trail off and wait until Jesus nodded encouragingly before continuing with his point. Most of Daryl’s outward emotions were quite muted and sometimes hard to decipher, but Jesus was starting to get the hang of it. 

A few minutes later Carol came back around the corner, “he’ll just be a couple of minutes. I’d offer you a coffee but…” She motioned down at the coffee cups in his hands. He’d almost forgotten about those. 

He laughed, taking a quick sip. “So, what has Daryl said about me? Good things, I hope?” 

Carol nodded, “very good things.” She hushed her voice slightly, although there was so much noise coming from the workshop no-one but Jesus would be able to hear her. “Treat him well, okay? Daryl…” she paused. “Daryl needs a lot of patience. He doesn’t do this sort of thing very often. This is a big step for him.” 

Jesus met her eyes sincerely, he knew bits and pieces of Daryl’s past and knew he hadn’t grown up in the best circumstances. “Of course. I promise. I care a lot about him.” 

Carol touched his shoulder affectionately, “I can see why he likes you so much. You’re cute as a button.”

He grinned and tucked his hair behind his ear. “Thanks.”

Daryl chose that moment to walk around the corner, Jesus looked up and caught his eye, unable to stop the smile that spread across his face. “Hi.” He said quietly. 

Daryl was wearing a flannel shirt and his leather vest over his usual work overalls. He stopped a couple of metres away from Jesus, obviously self conscious. Daryl had told him that none of the guys he worked with knew he was gay, so Jesus understood. “You’re early.” Daryl was evidently trying to keep the happiness out of his voice. 

Jesus grinned happily, “Gregory let me have the afternoon off.” He handed Daryl the coffee cup he’d picked up earlier. It wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t warm as Jesus had hoped, “sorry, it’s cooled down a lot. You don’t have to drink it.”

“Nah,” Daryl took a sip. “Anything’s better than the motor oil they call coffee here.”

“Hey!” The noise came from Carol’s desk, the two men looked over and saw her frowning jokily at Daryl, “don’t insult my coffee.”

Daryl grunted, shaking his head at the woman. “Y’know it tastes like shit.” He looked over at Paul. “Let’s go.” He walked out of the door without waiting for Jesus to respond. 

Jesus turned to Carol, “it was lovely meeting you.” He said genuinely. 

“You too.” Carol paused, looking out of the window at Daryl. “You boys need to come round for dinner sometime, okay?”

“I’d love to! See you later.” He turned and followed Daryl out onto the sidewalk, catching up with the older man.

Daryl turned to him, “y’all finished your gossiping?” 

Jesus paused before responding, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the sealed packet of Morleys. He saw Daryl’s eyes light up and handed the gift to him. “Actually, she invited us to dinner.”

Daryl sighed, “we makin’ the rounds now, huh? Having dinner with all our friends?”

Jesus bumped his shoulder into Daryl’s arm jovially as Daryl lit up a cigarette. “Seems like it.” He looked over at the man and searched his face for sign of anxiety. 

“Hmm.”

“If you don’t feel up to going tonight I can-“ Jesus started but Daryl cut him off.

“Nah. It’s fine.”

Jesus nodded, “well, we still have a few hours before we’re due at Glenn and Maggie’s. Do you wanna…” he paused, hoping the next words wouldn’t sound too cliché, “come back to mine?”

Daryl somehow managed to smirk and look bashful at the same time, but then looked down at himself. “Yeah, uh. Let’s go to mine instead, need a change of clothes. Don’t wanna show up for dinner smellin’ like an old pickup truck mixed with an ash tray.”

Jesus laughed and nodded. They turned and walked in the direction of Daryl’s apartment.


	2. Glenn and Maggie's

Daryl tugged on the collar of his shirt for the fifth time in 20 minutes, looking in the mirror. Jesus didn’t think he’d ever seen Daryl look in the mirror this much. He smiled and touched the man’s shoulder affectionately. 

“You look great. You have nothing to worry about, except maybe how to pretend that Glenn’s cooking doesn’t taste like ass.” 

Daryl grunted and stepped away from the mirror, “won’t be that bad if it tastes like your ass…” he muttered quietly.

Jesus heard perfectly well and suppressed his laughter, “I didn’t catch that, what did you say?” He questioned, feigning ignorance. 

“Nothin’.” Daryl smirked.

Soon they were headed towards Glenn and Maggie’s. Jesus kept his hand on Daryl’s thigh as the other man drove, giving directions towards his friend’s apartment. When they arrived and parked the car Daryl took his hands off the steering wheel and put his thumbnail into his mouth. Jesus reached up and laced his fingers through Daryl’s. He didn’t pull the man’s hand away from his mouth, knowing it was something Daryl did for comfort to quell his anxiety. He Just waited for Daryl to drop his hand in his own time; he did after a couple of minutes. 

Jesus brought Daryl’s hand to his mouth and kissed his palm. “Thank you for coming tonight, I know it must be difficult.”

Daryl looked away, “ain’t difficult.” He said, the look on his face betraying him.

Jesus nodded knowingly and undid his seatbelt. He turned to the other man, squeezing his hand reassuringly, “you ready to go in?”

Daryl nodded and they released each others hands before stepping out of the truck and out into the small, cramped parking lot. Glenn and Maggie lived in the centre of Atlanta, so they were lucky to have a parking lot at all. The sun had gone down already as it was still winter, leaving the sky a mixture of dark blue and orange from the light pollution of the city. Jesus let go of a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and could see condensation in a cloud in front of him. 

A few minutes later they were stood outside of Glenn and Maggie’s front door, after being let into the building via the intercom. They could hear laughing and talking from inside. Jesus knocked three times and heard voices quieten down.

A few moments later the door cracked open and immediately Glenn pulled Paul into a huge hug, “Hey man!” He greeted Jesus before pulling away and looking up at the man next to him, “you must be Daryl?” Daryl nodded and they shook hands before Glenn started leading them into the small apartment. “It’s great to finally meet you, so we don’t having to sit through Jesus describing you for hours anymore…” Glenn turned to Jesus, “it’s gotten old, dude!” He joked as Paul pretended to hit him.

“Fuck you!” The long haired man chuckled before turning to the man he’d arrived with. “Daryl, this is Glenn,” he explained. Daryl nodded in response.

“Everyone’s in the den. Can I get you a couple of beers?” Glenn gestured towards the fridge.

The two men replied in the affirmative before Paul led Daryl towards the den. Everyone was sat on couches and bean bags and were chatting amicably about some college gossip that had been travelling around the campus. 

“Hey, people.” Jesus acknowledged as he entered the room, closely followed by Daryl. Who seemed to be stuck between trying to be social, and not wanting to make eye contact with anybody. Jesus turned to him and touched his chest gently, quickly finding eye contact to make sure he was doing okay. Daryl gave him a small smile and a nod.

“Everyone, this is Daryl.” He spoke once he was sure the other man was holding up okay. “Daryl this is Tara, Sasha, Maggie and Aaron.” He pointed at each person as he introduced them, they all smiled and raised their hands invitingly. They cleared a space for Daryl and Glenn on a couch and the two men sat down. Maggie next to Jesus and Aaron next to Daryl. 

Jesus knew Aaron was extremely good at reading people, he was studying psychology at college and therefor knew how to make people feel comfortable. Jesus thought Daryl and Aaron would get along. He made conversation with the two but when he felt like Daryl was happy enough listening to Aaron’s chatter he turned to Maggie, who had been looking at her phone.

“So, what’s Chef Glenn cooking up for us tonight?” He joked.

Maggie sighed, still looking at her phone, “he’s frantically texting me from the kitchen. He’s burnt the tofu to a crisp. Again.”

Jesus bit his lip to stop from laughing, this had happened almost all of the evenings where Glenn was cooking. “Do you want me to go in there and see if I can salvage it?”

“I don’t think there’s anything left to salvage.” Maggie looked up and turned the phone to Paul, showing him a picture of what appeared to be charcoal. His cooking had always turned out bad, but this was possibly the worst result Paul had ever witnessed.

His eyes widened at the picture, “oh wow. That looks… delicious.” He said sarcastically, before getting an idea. “What about pizza?” 

“Pizza.” Maggie agreed. 

Half an hour later they were all sat around eating, thankful they wouldn’t have to choke down Glenn’s culinary experiments. Some random gameshow was on the television, but no one was really paying attention as they talked amongst themselves.

“So, Daryl.” Tara began once the conversation had quietened down a bit, “what was your first impression of our sweet angel boy?” She gestured towards Jesus.

Daryl huffed out a laugh under his breath, “dunno. Kept giving me weird looks, thought he wanted to fight me or somethin’.”

Jesus turned to him, smiling. “Could you not detect a hint of lust in my romantic gazes?” 

Daryl smirked, “nope.” He replied and quickly shoved some pizza into his mouth. 

“How did you meet, again? I’ve forgotten.” Sasha asked.

“I was showering at the gym, all alone. Droplets of water running down my chest. Daryl came in and started taking off his shirt. I gazed upon his rock hard pecs and that was when I knew-“

Glenn cut off his story, “you could never afford a gym membership. What’s the real story?” He pressured, even though he knew the real story as Jesus had texted him extensively about it at the time. 

“Fine, fine. So the sun was setting and I was at Jackson Street bridge sketching the city skyline. Suddenly I heard a rumbling engine approach behind me. I turned around and saw him riding his motorbike, hair billowing in the wind, and-“ 

Daryl cut him off this time, “we met at the 7/11 where he works and he pretended to smoke cigarettes to get me to talk to him.” 

The room erupted into laughter. Jesus sighed and joined in, “yeah, yeah.” He blushed slightly at the memory but wasn’t embarrassed. He felt Daryl’s hand resting on his thigh encouragingly, out of view to everyone else in the room. If he had never hatched that stupid plan he would never have had the opportunity to be with Daryl, learn about him, introduce him to his friends. He leaned back on the couch and looked around as the man of his dreams and his closest friends hung out, feeling like the luckiest person alive.


	3. Never Have I Ever

“Who’s up for a game of ‘Never have I ever’? I haven’t played in years.” Tara asked jokingly, breathing out smoke and passing the joint over to Sasha.

“What’s that?” Daryl muttered after swallowing his mouthful of beer.

The other people looked at him, some surprise evident on their faces. Daryl looked away and out over the edge of the balcony, obviously trying to avoid their stares. 

Jesus touched him gently on the back, he didn’t want Daryl to feel embarrassed. “It’s a drinking game. Someone says something they’ve never done, and if you’ve done it you take a drink. The aim is to get everyone else to drink.” He explained concisely.

Daryl nodded in understanding before snorting, “people need an excuse to drink? When I was your age I was downin’ moonshine night and day.”

Everyone laughed like it was a punch line, however Jesus knew he probably wasn’t joking. Daryl’s past was a sore subject for him, but he’d told the other man a few stories of his and his brother’s escapades. The joint was passed to Jesus’ hand and he inhaled deeply, the grassy, smokey taste filling his mouth. 

As he exhaled he looked around the circle of friends, sat on the floor of Glenn and Maggie’s balcony. “I’m up for playing, who wants to start us off?”

“I will.” Aaron spoke up from beside Daryl. “Never have I ever…” He paused and gave Jesus a menacing look, “kissed Glenn.”

Everyone around the circle gasped in mock horror and looked at Jesus, he sighed watching Maggie take a drink. “That doesn’t count! He was so drunk he literally fell onto my face and our lips accidentally touched.” Daryl laughed quietly beside him.

“Why are you pretending it meant nothing, man? It was the best night of my life!” Glenn laughed, playing along.

“Sure, sure.” Jesus leaned back and took a drink of his beer. He passed the joint over to Daryl and watched as he took a toke, the smoke swirling out of his mouth for a second before he blew a smoke ring into the middle of the circle. 

They played a few more rounds of the game before it got to Tara’s turn. “Never have I ever sucked a dick.” She said proudly, watching as everyone but Glenn drank.

“You aren’t missing out.” Sasha spoke, looking at her friend. “Never have I ever,” she thought for a second, “Umm…had a threesome.”

Jesus, Tara and Maggie all drank.

Glenn looked comically between the three “…was it t-“

Maggie cut him off, “No Glenn, it wasn’t together.” Everyone laughed. 

Next up was Jesus. He looked at Aaron, trying to come up with something that would catch him out to get revenge for earlier. He smirked, thinking of one. “Never have I ever… had sex in a public place.” 

Aaron went red and took a tiny sip of beer. Everyone in the circle turned to him for him to tell all, except Daryl who took a swig of his drink. Jesus caught his eye as the others discussed Aaron’s adventures. “Is it a good story?” He asked quietly so the others couldn’t hear.

“Nah, not really. Was in a bathroom stall with some woman Merle tried to hook me up with.”

“Well… if you ever want a better public sex tale, I’m up for it.” Jesus offered, bumping his shoulder into Daryl’s bicep.

Daryl looked down at him through his hair and ducked his head, “mhm, yeah.” Jesus grinned cheekily in response.

Once his friends had recovered from Aaron’s gossip it was Daryl’s turn. The man took a second to think before speaking. “Never have I ever owned a dildo.” He said quickly. Jesus and everyone else around the circle took a drink. Glenn took a hesitant drink.

“Good one, Daryl.” Sasha praised, laughing. “You’re a natural at drinking games.” 

“Finally found my callin’.” 

They played for a bit longer before Jesus noticed the time, it was gone 1am. He turned to Daryl “shit, do you have work tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yeah, jus’ a couple of hours.”

“It’s getting kinda late, should we head off?” 

“Sure.” Daryl stood up, followed by Paul who wobbled slightly from intoxication. The taller man steadied him by placing his hands on his shoulders. Jesus had to fight himself not to lean back onto Daryl’s chest and snuggle into him, he didn’t want to make Daryl uncomfortable in front of people he’d only just met. 

“Should I call you guys a cab?” Maggie asked, breaking Jesus out of his thoughts. 

“Yes please!” Jesus 

Daryl turned to the hosts, “I’ll come by and pick up my truck tomorrow, that okay?” 

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Glenn replied and Maggie nodded in agreement.

A few minutes later they had said their goodbyes and were stood outside on the sidewalk waiting for the cab. Jesus watched as the condensation from their breath mixed in the air. “Thanks for coming tonight.” 

“Was nothin’.” Daryl 

“I think they liked you, they’ve met a couple of guys I was dating in the past and it never went that well.”

“Mhm, that’s good.”

Jesus looked up at the streetlight above them, “I know I’m drunk but, I really care about you a lot. I’ve enjoyed these past few months so much.” He wobbled on his feet slightly and Daryl put a hand on his arm to stop him from falling.

“Same here.” Daryl said quietly once Jesus was steady, he knew Daryl wasn’t always good at expressing how he felt.

“Would you ever wanna, I dunno, be boyfriends?” He tried to ask casually.

“What’re we now?”

“I mean… officially. Y’know.”

Daryl nodded, “how bout we talk about this in the morning, when you aren’t so wasted you’re strugglin’ to stay vertical,” he suggested.

“Maybe that’s a good idea.” Jesus agreed.

Daryl lifted his arm and tucked Paul under it to keep him warm, and although the street was almost completely empty Paul counted it as a public display of affection. They waited like this until the cab arrived to drive them back to Daryl’s place.


End file.
